Fort Monmouth Army Base in Monmouth, NJ

Contact Information

Phone: (732) 532-9000

DSN: 992-9110

Fort Monmouth is no longer an active military base, but a closed one. The fort was located in the Monmouth County of New Jersey, hence its name. It was only 8 km away from the Atlantic Ocean. The fort didn’t really spread on a very wide area. In fact, it covered less than 5 square kilometers. It hosted the main post, while an adjacent base – Camp Charles Wood – hosted all the other facilities, such as golf spots, housing opportunities, laboratories and other buildings. Aside from a particular rail line, the fort was also split by a road. More than a decade ago, it was open to anyone for crossing. People were not allowed to actually get inside, but just go through it by using the common rail line or the road. The 9/11 attacks changed all these. The fort was immediately closed to the civilian population. The authorities opened adjacent roads, as going through it was no longer possible for the unauthorized personnel.

History

Fort Monmouth was built on an old and abandoned racetrack. The US Army picked the plain site for a training center for its finest officers. During its initial years around the first decades of the 20-th century, the fort lived to see a few different names. The first major achievement was in 1919, when the Signal Corps School was moved in. Five years later, the Signal Corps Board got in the same place, while the final name was given in 1925. The name was given in the loving memory of all the troops who passed away during the American Revolutionary War, especially during the battle from Monmouth. The general structure of the site was not very encouraging, so the US Army took it through a new round of improvements. The first building with a permanent purpose was built in 1928. The consolidation process came with a few premieres. The first balloon fitted with a radio for meteorological purposes was first released in the atmosphere in 1928. A decade later, in 1938, the US Army developed the first radar at this base.

Fort Monmouth played a massive role throughout World War II and the Cold War. Its latest years brought in a standby atmosphere without any major assignments. In 2005, the fort was the subject for BRAC. The US Army officials decided it was no longer useful, so the fort was closed and disestablished. Most of the troops and equipments were deployed to Ohio and Maryland. On September, 15-th, 2011, the last official sounds were heard on site, when the flag was lowered for the last time. A few hundred people – both civilians and military personnel – came to see the fort in its last day.

One year after the initial announcement from 2005, Jon Corzine – the Governor of New Jersey – announced his plans to renovate Fort Monmouth and reopen it. In his opinion, this closure was nothing but a temporary move to give the authorities some time for a new and massive redevelopment plan. However, nothing happened so far.